I was 19 years old and I thought I was Plato reincarnated.

That's not a metaphor. I genuinely believed it. Not as a passing thought. As an absolute, unshakeable certainty.

Here's what nobody tells you about psychosis: it doesn't feel like madness. It feels like clarity.
🧵 1/6 The first thing I noticed was that everything felt lit from within. Every conversation felt electric. Every pattern in the world seemed to point directly at me.

I stopped sleeping. Four hours. Then three. Then none.

I thought I didn't need it. I thought I was operating at a higher level.
2/6

Up to 80% of people with schizophrenia smoke cigarettes.

Psychiatry's explanation for decades: they're stressed. Bored. Unemployed.

But the real explanation is darker than that. 🧵 Multiple large studies now show that smokers have roughly 2x the risk of developing schizophrenia.

And in most of these studies, the smoking came before the psychosis.

Not after. Before.

The problem with coming off psychiatric medications is that almost nobody, including most psychiatrists, actually knows how to do it safely. And if you mess up, the results can be catastrophic. 🧵 1/ When you take a psychiatric medication long enough, your brain adapts to its presence. The brain doesn't passively accept chemical changes. It fights back. It tries to return to its previous state. That's called homeostasis.

In 1990, approximately 1 in 184 Americans was on a psychiatric disability claim.

Today it's closer to 1 in 50.

Here's why the standard model is failing and what actually works.
🧵 1/5 2/5
We have more psychiatric medications than ever. More psychiatrists. More awareness campaigns. More treatment centers. The infrastructure has expanded dramatically.

But the disability rate keeps climbing. Something is broken at the foundation, not at the edges.

I was 24. Five psychiatric medications at high doses. Four hospitalizations. Declared treatment-resistant.

Here is exactly what I changed that put my bipolar disorder into remission. 🧵 1/6 2/6
The first thing was the ketogenic diet. January 4th, 2021. High fat, moderate protein, near-zero carbohydrates. I tracked my ketones every day.

That spring was the first time in five years I went through an entire season without a manic episode. Not one.

At 19 I had a psychotic break at UC Berkeley. Hardly slept for two weeks. Thought I was the messiah. Ended up in the psych ward.

4 hospitalizations. 5 meds. My psychiatrist told me I was treatment-resistant.

He was wrong. Here are the metabolic strategies that healed me. 🧵 Strategy 1: Ketogenic / Carnivore diet

Your brain can become insulin resistant. When that happens, neurons can't fire properly, and you get psychiatric symptoms.

Ketones bypass the broken insulin pathway and fuel your neurons directly. The brain actually prefers them over glucose.

I went keto January 4th, 2021. My manic episodes stopped. Not reduced. Stopped. I've since switched to carnivore and feel even better.